Dumb Abbott dumb.. Patterson is nearing his century so why play the show pony instead of seeing your senior partner thru to his well deserved milestone. and secondly keep the partnership in tact till stumps. The coach should haul you over the coals for that brain snap.

Selectors wanted conversion from Kurtis Patterson. He has delivered with a vital ton.

Composure personified. Kept his head while wickets tumbled around him.

Richardson makes a huge statement on the Perth Stadium track with a scintilating 8 for!

Impressive.

Weatherald, Doran and Ferguson.. ranked in last seasons top 5 have all started this season poorly. Weatherald was pushing for national honors.

That makes him one of the few with a FC average over 40. He seems to be always just a player or two down the pecking order when spots  are open and he didnt take the Australia A tour chance. Still I rate him a better player at least than Head

 Look familiar? It is a  clever digital replica of the iconic WACA scoreboard at  Burswood (Perth) Stadium.

Evidently CA has him on its radar but is worried about his FC conversion rate.. 5 26 . Hell if a bloke averages more than @40 then he is a valuable player to have around whether he scores regular tons or not. He sure scores a hi percentage of half tons... something a few of our current batsmen would like to do.

Complete with images of two people inside it. Ha!

Yeh. Did not see that until you pointed it out mate.

Paddles what is your take on ways of avoiding rain spoiling cricket? This is Australia's only  large  stadium with an enclosed roof. Docklands in Melbourne. Ideal for cricket you say. I agree but it is used primarily for AFL which.. hello.. does not need a dry surface to play. It has only been used for a handful of limited overs matches in the past. Last being in 2006. I can not find out why it stopped holding cricket games. 

I have to ask the question why Travis Head is playing Test cricket and Kurtis Patterson is not. Head's  FC conversion rate and average is worse than the Blue leftie at 7 33 and @36. Go figure CA.

Because Heads a bit younger and really rated by those who pick teams  despite not showing too much. Hes 47* whilst hes team mates have collapsed around him. Irregardless I feel like Handscomb knock should have him in the side (but in the name of incumbency theyll go head)

 Interesting Burrns made 96. 

The whole conversion rate is a silly one too. Give me a guy who'll make  66, 36, 8, 91, 42  over the guy who goes 105, 0, 10, 8, 100 any day. Pattersons average is higher than all of Head, Harris etc yet hes overlooked. Madness. Soemone whos consistently doing that is a much better more consistent player who can go to the next level far better than someone whos madly inconsistent and posting worse numbers

Because MCG.

edit

Copeland leads the Blues attack to give them a solid innings lead.

Saw some terrific play from the home team in Tassie v South Aus today. Got to the game and Tassie blasted SA out for 136 after the home team made 185 in the first dig.

Gabe Bell bowled very well, as did first gamer, Tassie boy, Pyecroft. Both extracted seam /swing off the wicket.

 Demon bowler, Tasmanian Tiger, Riley Meredith bowled more express stuff to frighten the life out of South Aus. I'm not sure how fast he is bowling, but he is so fast compared to the others, including the South Aussies, Winter, Mennie, Richardson and Worrall.

I know Bird has been recorded 130 -135kph in Tests. All other fast bowlers in this game look like pop gun bowlers compared to Meredith!

I like the look of left armer Winter though.


I have a big criticism of the Bellerive oval though. It is far too conducive to pace, and too spin unfriendly. This wicket doesn't do enough to create better Aussie bowlers in Asia.

When I left, Doolan  was out for barely any runs, then McDermott, and to a lesser extent, Silk , flayed the SA attack.  McDermott in particular  looked in excellent  touch and had superb technique - all shots  were played on the ground.

One thing that really annoyed me was there was no Shield coverage of this game on local ABC news this evening, yet they covered the Hobart Hurricanes 20/20  teams when they have not even played!

Tassie was in front by 130 runs with 1 wicket down when I left.

Blasted out today by Tassie's pace attack of Bird, Bell, Meredith and Pyecroft.

There is no consistency in these decks. One round they favor the bowler the next the batsman. What happened to pitches that provide a fair contest between bat and ball for a full match.  No wonder people shun Shield cricket. So where are our potential spin bowlers expected to get good practise for when we tour the sub continent if Bellerive remains non spin conducive? Even the SCG now lacks the big turners of past years. Get your act together CA.

Tigers are in a very strong position with a day to play.

An excellent ton by the Penrith boy Silk. Has he beaten the Black Dog finally. 

edit

When I left last night Silk was flaying the SA attack with McDermott.

I didn't get to the cricket today until 4pm.

I noticed Silk's strike rate for his century had slowed down to only about 40 runs per 100 balls, which is slow. McDermott's half contrary featured a strike rate of  circa 63.

From memory Bailey's 69 or so, featured a strike rate of about 90, which is typical for George as he gets going. He has relinquished the captaincy to Wade to  focus on his batting.

Paine also made 47 not out, but with a strike rate of circa 45.

The South Aus four pronged attack looked innocuous at times. Surprisingly, Head's spinners were useful as he took 2-30.

There is no specialist spinner in either team, which is a dreadful indictment of the wicket.  The Bellerive wicket needs  to provide spin bowlers with some encouragement!
  

South A lost a wicket in the first over to Bird. They are 1 down for few at stumps. 

The Tasmanian Tiger, Riley Meredith , only had one over before stumps.  Essentially, he rolled  his arm over to make batters play. 

Hopefully, he will operate tomorrow ,  before  there imminent rain arrives around midday. I love seeing the opposition hopping around at the crease, ducking and weaving and rushing their shots when he bowls his thunderbolts!

Blues win comfortably.
Bulls hammer the Bushies
Tigers also look like overcoming the Redbacks. 

Half way thru the season now.

Tigers beat Redbacks, after a rain delay and bad weather threatened an early conclusion to the game.

Callum Ferguson made a century under great pressure.

I think Bird took 4-65 in the second innings.


The Bellerive pitch is shocking in that it provides no encouragement to spin. This is another useless home wicket that develops players unable to play overseas, particularly in Asia. 

Both teams, SA and Tas, had four pronged pace attacks with no specialist spinner in either line up.

TEAM OF THE ROUND:
Silk
Burns
Ferguson
Patterson
Handscomb
Stoinis
Paine
J. Richardson
Bell
Copeland
Lyon

ROUND 6: 
NSW XI: Peter Nevill (c/wk),  Daniel Hughes, Nick Larkin, Kurtis Patterson, Moises Henriques, Jason Sangha, Jack Edwards, Stephen O'Keefe, Sean Abbott, Harry Conway, Greg West.

South Australia XI:  Jake Lehmann (c), Jake Weatherald, Conor McInerney, Kelvin Smith, Callum Ferguson, Tom Cooper, Alex Carey, Nick Winter, Adam Zampa, Joe Mennie, Daniel Worrall.

Inexplicably Trent Copeland has been left out of the Blues lineup as he is in Adelaide talking to a screen. Copes has been one of the comp's  most consistent bowlers this season and will be missed. Left armer Greg West will make his Shield debut.  SACA again leaving out Chadd Sayers. In comes top order bat Kelvin Smith who has been scoring runs in FL.